EtheT

As for spending more than two seconds in future, I won't even need one. BA won't be something that will get close to any of my travel spend going forward.

As airlines like to remind me I have a choice and BA will not be one of them based on this element of the business experience. I do though look forward to seeing how the rest of their experience stacks against the this year's Swiss, Virgin, Delta and American business long hauls.

As someone correctly mentioned, why would I think I would be charged an assignment when no one else has tried to juice me in this way for business travel.

As for tantrum, as before merely observations and my reaction to them, but if that's how you choose to perceive it fill your boots, I suspect that won't take you very long.

stifle

British Airways has run the numbers and found it to be better for their bottom line to provide their loyalty members with a better choice of seats this way.

All Club World passengers can choose their own seats for no charge from 24 hours before departure.

There is no need to get hysterical/neurotic about having a seat assignment, as this does not figure in any potential oversell situation or decision to bump a passenger.

Ber2dca

Well, let's not act like those 'numbers' wouldn't involve a fair amount of guesswork. Like many decisions at the corporate level, it's ultimately a case of strategic prioritization. And sometimes businesses are right, sometimes they aren't. Of course, it is BA's decision and they're of course free to make that call.

At the end of the day, I am not sure why anyone who isn't 'locked in' with BA or LHR and thus eager to maintain or gain status would choose to purchase CW out of all the J products out there.

UKtravelbear

Swiss do charge for certain seats in J.

You can select a 'privacy' seat (which are the single 'throne' seats in the 1-2-1 rows) for £120 - that's if they haven't been reserved for Senators and Hon circle.

You can book for free any of the seats in pairs A/B and the middle D/G pairs in the 2-2-1 rows

So BA aren't the only airline who charge for seats in J

WorldLux

A TATL return in CE/CW from Europe via London gets you Bronze. Based on that even less regular BA flyers should be within reach of free seat selection (at the very least 7 days before the flight).

Exactly. The system is IMO better than simply blocking the good seats for BA FFs. It gives the non-status passengers the possibility to buy a "good seat". I would imagine that is among the reasons why Swiss decided to introduce the seat fee for their thrones.

And I think that the fee is high enough to deter most non-status pax from actually using it thus leaving a greater choice for passenger booking at the last moment.

Swiss charges too (at least for the good seats). Moreover, BA doesn't force you to book a seat. In the grand scheme of everything, you should be far more upset that you have to pay 4,000£ for a LHR-DFW, when others pay as little as 1,400£ when connecting from Europe.

It's BA's choice to milk you. It's your choice to book with them. I understand that it is frustrating to have to pay for seat selections, but BA is IMO pretty clear about the policy. AFAIK BA indicates the fee during the booking process and any TA worth his money will know about it too.

FlyerTalker688786

It is not that BA has ran their numbers so they are right. In fact BA got away with many things like YQ, charged seats for HBO until recently, now BOB and cancellation of second meals...etc has everything to do with some behaviours of FTers here: you don't speak up for something that may impact other travellers, one day those cuts or charges will come to you.

FTers are customer, not Arline business owners. I question some of the FTers wisdom and motives here and I blame these attitudes that actually helped BA to be a mean airline because they know people will defend their actions as BA must have run the number so they as right.

my truly, are you a traveller like OP or BA owners?

Maluku_Flyer

I'm not your truly, but I'm a traveler who likes the way BA handle this. It's a nice benefit for BA/OW elites. And pretty much everyone who's flown a couple of L/H sectors on BA falls in that group.

Do you also complain about US airlines that make you buy a domestic 1st class ticket if you want to sit in the good seats, while their elites just buy a coach ticket and get upgraded? And then order the meal option that you would have liked as well - but they just ran out of.

FlyerTalker688786

There are a big group of people who occasionally fly airlines but each single time they will fly business or first. According to AA, 85% of their passengers are one time travellers. It may not suggest what happens in BA, but it gives you a big picture about who is flying what and how often.

Then there is a big group of people who want their privacy and never joined any FFP although they always fly J/F.

Also there are a group of business travellers who have no choice of airline and the company pays for the cheapest J ticket.

It is a big world full of different circumstances out FT in terms of why they travel and how they travel.

You are not compare apple to apple. Let us see, if any of the US airlines start to charge a cash co-pay for those elite who wish to upgrade, then you see what happens. Yes there will be no noise about 'airline punched the numbers and will be right'.

EtheT

Not been charged to assign on any Swiss business class seat. The food on board outstanding and the lounges very good, I would and will fly them again.
​
What aspects of business travel or experience do BA have an advantage or master in?

(Genuinely interested in this, though if answering it would be good to know the context / comparison)

JAXBA

Quote:

Originally Posted by EtheT

What aspects of business travel or experience do BA have an advantage or master in?

In order, BA's advantages are:

1. LHR network
2. BAEC
3. 'British-ness'
4. Tea

Uhhh...

Jimmie76

You do get to find out about this charge before buying your ticket. In the booking process before you get to the payment screen you're asked if you want to choose a seat for cash. So there's no need to be parting with any money if you object to paying for seats and aren't buying a flexible ticket or have status.

navylad

This really isn't something hidden away in the small print, during the booking process on ba.com you are taking to a whole page which asks if you wish to book seats and clearly displays the price, this is before you have entered any payment details and so, if you want your seat selection to be included in your price, your free to go back to your search and select a different airline. I really can't see how anyone, even an infrequent flyer, can miss this page?



Furthermore, as I've said, you have 24 hours to cancel your booking so even if you did miss this page, when you try then to book your seats and presented with a price, you can just cancel your booking and rebook with another airline of your choice.

You might say that the flights are being booked by your business rather than you, in which case they are choosing not to pay to allow you to select your seats and you should really take this up with them not BA who are just providing options. Equally, a TA should guide what you are purchasing, if they fail to mention that seat selection is available free at 24 hours prior to departure, or can be purchased prior to this, then switch your TA.

It is of course up to you who you choose to buy your future flights with, personally I would, if I didn't have status, just factor in the cost of seat selection (which is shown prior to purchase) into the selection of my airline, along with all the other numerous variables (timings, departure airport, budget, IFE, food selection etc.).

Saying individuals aren't airlines isn't constructive, they have choices about who they fly with, airlines will design products to meet a market, if you don't like a product don't buy it.

At the end of the day, airlines decide their policies, sometimes you may disagree with a policy as it may favour another type of pax and not you, its up to you whether you vote with your feet, provide feedback to the airline for when the policy is reviewed or just rant to a load of random strangers on an internet forum.

Ber2dca

If people don't like a feature of a company's product then an internet forum discussing the products of that company seems to me like the *perfect* place to leave feedback. People say "vote with your feet" and that's correct, but it's probably helpful if a company can find out *why* people vote with their feet.

In my line of work, I've been involved in turning customer feedback into product improvements. You certainly want to know what people don't like about your products, after all you're trying to create happy customers. (I assume/hope this is somehow somewhere a motivating factor in the airline industry too).

It's helpful for the company because it can improve the product (good companies don't arrogantly assume that because someone at one point decided to do things a certain way it has to stay that way forever) and it's helpful for customers who have a problem with a product that may keep them from buying it as much as they otherwise would.

navylad

Whilst I admire your sentiment, I wouldn't say an Internet forum is the perfect place; yes we know that BA do read at least some of these threads, but it is easy for an individual's gripe to get lost in the noise of the forum and we know BA spend of a lot of money utilising other methods of customer opinion (somewhat to the annoyance of some frequent flyers). Having said that, a well constructive and balanced post may hold some weight.

I'm sure BA will continue to review the policy of charging for J seats and will base that on modelling of revenue. Sadly for individuals who don't like this policy, the revenue stream from busienss transactions and frequent flyers is liking to dwarf their views in this instance and if they feel that strongly about it that they can't add the cost of the seat reservation into their purchasing decision, they are likely to be better off flying another airline.

jdtravels

That's so true - it's how I came across FT in the first place (though it was Googling for something else).

Back to BA's policy, I'm sure it works for them, which is why they haven't changed it. But it's also not unreasonable for us to simply comment on other options and debate on why or why not those are better or worse policies.

Personally, I don't think it's unreasonable to charge for seat selection - although I'd prefer only charging for 'preferred' seats, even in J. I'm sure they could maybe block out the entire UD on 747s and some of the better seats on the lower deck or on other planes, and only allow 'elites' to select them, or for paid selection. They could even tier them, like the 'best' seats (e.g. 64A/K) to only those paying/top tier, etc. Just like what many airlines do with Y exit rows vs first few rows vs rest of the cabin.

Leaving a few seats that people could choose for 'free' regardless of status, albeit not amazing choices, would still let people feel somewhat better, like they're getting some option at least.